Never in the history of Hamburg has the Chamber of Commerce (IHK –Industrie und Handelskammer) voting been so important. We are encouraging every one who is eligible to vote not to throw away the voting cards they will receive via post.

The future of our businesses and our childrens livelihood depends on how you cast your vote today. The voting documents have started arriving in your letter boxes.

Those who are not well informed about the voting pattern can contact me onThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call me personal on 017632140550 for clarification. PLEASE DON’T THROW THE VOTING PAPERS AWAY…..

There are more people living in Germany than ever before, largely thanks to immigration. Here's an explanation of what the new numbers mean.Germany's population reached 82.8 million at the end of 2016, according to government estimates. That's around 600,000 more than the previous year - an increase equivalent to the population of Leipzig - and almost 300,000 more than the previous record year, 15 years ago in 2002.

But without immigration - both of refugees and EU nationals - the population would have shrunk. So what do the statistics tell us?

How many people moved to Germany?

According to the statistics, over the past year at least 750,000 more people moved to Germany than emigrated from the country. In 2015, this figure was even higher, at around 1.1 million.

How accurate is this figure?

The immigration statistics aren't exact, experts warn. The 2011 census proved this: the official count showed that around one million fewer foreigners were living in Germany as had been thought. There are a few reasons for this, for example the fact that many immigrants do not inform authorities when they return home or move to another country, while others end up being registered twice.

What's more, many refugees who arrived in Germany during the 2015 migration influx were only officially registered in 2016. According to Sebastian Klüsener, an expert at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, the actual number of people who moved to Germany in 2016 is likely to be several tens of thousands lower than the official figure.

Where do the immigrants come from?

The 2016 statistics don't show this precisely. But experts agree that as well as refugees from war-zones and crisis-hit areas, economic immigrants from East Europe and other EU countries play an important role in Germany's population growth.

"EU migration was more significant than refugee migration in 2016," said Thomas Liebig from the OECD.

What about births and deaths?

Each year, more people die in Germany than are born there, meaning the population would shrink if it weren't for immigration. The so-called 'birth deficit' is estimated at between 150,000 and 190,000.

"The number of newborns rose slightly in 2016 compared with the previous year, and the number of deaths has risen to roughly the same level as in the previous year," explains statistician Reinhold Zahn.

How can the 'birth deficit' be tackled?

The number of women of child-bearing age in Germany is currently lower than the number of elderly people, meaning that even if these women were to have more children, it would be tough to compensate for the number of deaths.

Herbert Brücker of the Institute for Employment Research noted that: "Migration also increases birth rates," not because immigrants have a particularly high number of children, but because they are generally young.

A record find in the port of Hamburg by Hamburg zoll was 717 kilos of Cocaine hidden in a sea container. The case is related to an abduction case in the Netherlands. Investigators assume an extremely brutal organization is behind this mega deal.

The Director General reported the record on thursday, feb., 2nd, 2017 but did not reveal how much kilo it was. Now the details followed. The cocaine was already secured on the 18th of January in a container from Curacao. This was loaded with metal scrap according to freight documents and intended for transport to the Netherlands.

The perpetrators had tried very hard to hide the drugs. To prevent the drug from being detected during an X-ray inspection, they struck the cocaine packets into lead, stowed them in lead-lined big bags and hid them under metal scraps. In addition, the lead blocks were impregnated with gasoline - presumably to deceive the police dogs. But both missed. Both the X-ray technology of the customs as well as the drug detection machine showed the drugs.

In their further investigations, the Hamburg Customs came across an abduction case in the Netherlands, which is connected with the drug smuggling group. There had been a hostage-taken in the Netherlands last Monday, Jan 30th 2017, which was about the cocaine.

The officials suspect that it is a very brutal organization, which obviously does not shy from further violent crimes. Several members of the gang had already killed each other with the announcement of the confiscation, the authorities wanted to take the explosiveness out of the guerrilla conflict.

Norbert Drude, Director of the Customs Criminal Police, Hamburg said "This assertion proves once again the sensibility of the Hamburg taxpayers and the efficiency of state-of-the-art technology, but unfortunately it also shows the ever-growing threat of the international narcotics smuggling and the growing violence of the perpetrators."

The find is the largest cocaine ever secured by German customs. It is the biggest blow against the international drug smuggling in German seaports since over seven years. The drug is smuggled into Germany in very pure form by sea. Subsequently, it would have been stretched to about 2.8 tonnes for street sales and had a street selling value of 145 million euros.

In 2010, 1.2 tons of cocaine was discovered on a freighter from Paraguay - hidden in a total of 1,244 packages in wooden briquettes.

There are more people living in Germany than ever before, largely thanks to immigration. Here's an explanation of what the new numbers mean. Germany's population reached 82.8 million at the end of 2016, according to government estimates. That's around 600,000 more than the previous year - an increase equivalent to the population of Leipzig - and almost 300,000 more than the previous record year, 15 years ago in 2002. But without immigration - both of refugees and EU nationals - the population would have shrunk. So what do the statistics tell us?

How many people moved to Germany?According to the statistics, over the past year at least 750,000 more people moved to Germany than emigrated from the country. In 2015, this figure was even higher, at around 1.1 million.

How accurate is this figure?The immigration statistics aren't exact, experts warn. The 2011 census proved this: the official count showed that around one million fewer foreigners were living in Germany as had been thought. There are a few reasons for this, for example the fact that many immigrants do not inform authorities when they return home or move to another country, while others end up being registered twice.

What's more, many refugees who arrived in Germany during the 2015 migration influx were only officially registered in 2016. According to Sebastian Klüsener, an expert at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, the actual number of people who moved to Germany in 2016 is likely to be several tens of thousands lower than the official figure.

Where do the immigrants come from?The 2016 statistics don't show this precisely. But experts agree that as well as refugees from war-zones and crisis-hit areas, economic immigrants from East Europe and other EU countries play an important role in Germany's population growth. "EU migration was more significant than refugee migration in 2016," said Thomas Liebig from the OECD.

What about births and deaths?Each year, more people die in Germany than are born there, meaning the population would shrink if it weren't for immigration. The so-called 'birth deficit' is estimated at between 150,000 and 190,000. "The number of newborns rose slightly in 2016 compared with the previous year, and the number of deaths has risen to roughly the same level as in the previous year," explains statistician Reinhold Zahn.

How can the 'birth deficit' be tackled?The number of women of child-bearing age in Germany is currently lower than the number of elderly people, meaning that even if these women were to have more children, it would be tough to compensate for the number of deaths.

Herbert Brücker of the Institute for Employment Research noted that: "Migration also increases birth rates," not because immigrants have a particularly high number of children, but because they are generally young.

Is population growth good?Immigrants from the EU usually come to Germany to look for work. "Labor migration helps us to cope with demographic change," says Brücker. "The public budgets, the pension insurance systems, for example, are a good thing, as is the fact that we do not have to go into the population shrinkage."

What are the prospects for 2017?It's hard to say. For one thing, it's impossible to predict how Brexit will affect European migration. "This could go in both directions," says Liebig from the OECD. "The labor market is still receptive," Holger Bonin, of the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), emphasizes. The economist also believes that fewer refugees will arrive in Germany over the coming year.

When It HappenedPrevious reports of the incident involving a Ghanaian Man shot by a Hamburg police officer stating that it happened on the 2nd of February, 2016 was not correct. The incident, according to eye witnesses, happened on the 1st of February, 2016.

Where it HappenedThe actual location where the incident occurred was at Bremer-Reihe-Strasse in Hamburg -/St George

What HappenedAccording to eye witnesses, the victim, Augustine Akwesi Obeng, a Hamburg civilian, who hails from Boukrom-Kumasi, Ghana, was drunk at that particular moment and highly disorderly.A Hamburg police officer in civilian clothes approached him and that was when all hell broke loose.

The eye witness stated that he saw the police officer spray what looked like a pepper spray in the direction of the victim which had no major effect on the intoxicated victim.

Then the eye witness said he saw Akwesi Obeng lunge towards the plain clothed police officer with what appeared to look like a knife.

But the officer was able to kick the object out of the hands of Mr Augustine Akwesi. Immediately then after the officer pulled out a gun and shot Mr Augustine Akwesi in the leg.

The eye witness then said even though Mr Augustine Akwesi went down on his knees after the first shot, the officer proceeded to shot him two more times.

Eye witness said the officer shot him twice around his mid and upper body sections.

AftermathThe vice president of the Ghana union, Mr George Kubi, contacted the Chief of Hamburg Criminal Police division, Mr krupper to get more detailed information but was not afforded any further info on the outrageous incident.

The victim who layed down on the street in unbearable pain was later rushed to the hospital where he is stated as being in critical condition.Story by Michael Duah

US President Donald Trump's temporary travel blocks will also impact over 100,000 Germans with two passports. Figures released by the German Interior Ministry on Monday show that almost 140,000 Germans with dual citizenship would be blocked if they attempted to travel to the US due to Trump’s recently imposed travel bans.

Trump's executive order issued on Friday suspends all refugee admissions into the United States for 120 days, bars all Syrians indefinitely, and blocks citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries for 90 days - including dual citizens. The most recent data on Germans with dual citizenship comes from 2011, and shows that more than 80,000 Germans also have Iranian passports, 30,000 also have Iraqi passports, 25,000 have additional Syrian citizenship and more than 1,000 are also Sudanese.

Another 500 German-Somalians, 300 German-Libyans and 350 German-Yemenis are also impacted. “The figures could at best be seen as an estimate,” an Interior Ministry spokesman said. German politicians have largely condemned Trump’s executive order with Chancellor Angela Merkel saying on Sunday that it was “not justified” to target people based on their religion or background.

The Green party even called for Trump to be banned from travelling to Germany for the G20 summit in Hamburg in July. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that he would be looking into what the US bans mean for German citizens. Trump's travel bans have met with widespread protests at airports in the US where travelers have been detained on their way into the country.

On Wednesday, 1. February 2017, an African was shot by Hamburg police at Bremer Reihe near Hamburg main train station. Different sources and witnesses say, the Black man was under influence of alcohol during the shooting. Other circumstances are not clear yet. However, some Hamburg police has become highly aggressive and uncontrolled with the manner they approach Africans.

There are many reports which prove how the police in Hamburg has developed an aggressive energy of mistreatment and violence against Africans at Hafenstraße, St. Georg, Bremer Reihe etc. We want to remind you of Africans like Oury Jalloh, Jaja Diabi and Laya Condé who all died at the hands of a racist German police . The brutality and killings of these Africans by German police without any legal consequences should not allow to encourage Hamburg police to start the new method of shooting at Blacks.

*Lampedusa in Hamburg and other anti-racists groups reject these violations of human dignity and respect!*This is a vital and amiable call to the civil society: Let us rise against police brutality, violations of human rights and mistreatments of Africans! Show your dear solidarity and be part of this demonstration! Let us all stand up and stop this unjust Hamburg police attitude!